124 



WEEVILS IN SEED HOUSES AT GINNERIES. 



Careful observations made by Mr. E. A. Schwarz at Victoria 

 throughout the winter of 1901-2 revealed great numbers of weevils 

 about the gins. They occurred especially in the seed houses, and the 

 danger of the transportation of the pests from one locality to another 

 was most evident. 



A casual examination of the dirt separators Or cleaner feeders which 

 are now in use in the more modern ginneries shows that immense 

 numbers of weevils brought in from the fields are separated from the 

 lint by these devices. Even where these separators are used, however, 

 a short search will show that many weevils pass through, alive, into 

 the seed house. A single hour's search in the seed house of a first-class 

 ginnery, where cleaner feeders are in use, yielded seven boll weevils 

 in perfect condition and a number of other and much larger insects. 

 In addition to these, a number of fairly large spiders, most of which 

 were in perfect condition, were also found. Occasionally pup^ may 

 pass through the gins unharmed in small bolls in the cells formed by 

 the larvae. These cells are similar, both in size and shape, to the seed, 

 and ma}^ often be mistaken therefor. (PI. IV, fig. 17.) Distribution 

 of weevils in seed is therefore easily possible, and uninfested localities 

 should guard carefully against importing weevils in this way. 



During the past season thorough studies have been made of various 

 general systems and mechanical devices used to handle cotton from 

 the wagon to the bale. Careful tests were made to determine 

 exactly at what points the weevils passed through the machinery alive, 

 thus escaping into the seed. Study was also made to determine the 

 most effective devices now in use for eliminating or destroying the 

 weevils in the process of ginning. The general results of these studies 

 have previously been published in Farmers' Bulletin No. 209, entitled, 

 "Controlling the Boll Weevil in Cotton Seed and at Ginneries." 



GIN AGENCY AT BORDER LINE OF INFESTED TERRITORY. 



Extended investigations made by a number of agents of the Bureau 

 of Entomology early in the season of 1904 determined practically all 

 points of infestation then existing in the western parishes of Louis- 

 iana, and in each case, so far as was possible, the source of infestation 

 was traced. In this way it was found that during the fall of 1903 

 many cotton growers from the eastern edge of the infested district in 

 Texas took their cotton across the line into Louisiana for ginning. At 

 that time the Louisiana territory was not infested, but, through the 

 practice mentioned, a number of gins became so infested with weevils 

 that planters from the western parishes of Louisiana who came to 

 these same gins with their cotton carried away weevils with the seed. 

 It was found that these intermediate gins were largely responsible for 



